Trust in TV new actually ticked up slightly from last year, when 21 percent expressed confidence in it, compared to 25 percent who expressed confidence in newspapers. Newspapers peaked in 1979, when 51 percent of people surveyed said they had confidence in newspapers. TV news peaked in 1993, the first year Gallup asked the question, at 46 percent.

Politics informed confidence: 31 percent of liberals, 25 percent of moderates, and 15 percent of conservatives expressed confidence in papers. Liberals and moderates came around on TV news in the last year, while conservatives' confidence in that medium fell as well, to 15 percent.

America's most trusted institution is the military, according to Gallup. Its least trusted is Congress.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City Paper. He's the author of the 2006 book "Body Piercing Saved My Life," about Christian rock and evangelical Christian culture.